Chicago is building. Everywhere you look, new developments along the lakefront, infrastructure upgrades on the South Side, mixed-use projects reshaping neighborhoods that have waited decades for investment. Cranes are up. Job sites are active. Billions of dollars are moving. And the industry can't find enough people to do the work. The construction industry needs to attract an estimated 349,000 net new workers in 2026 just to keep supply and demand in balance — and that number is projected to...

If you're a parent, guardian, or teen in Englewood, Roseland, Auburn Gresham, Chatham, or anywhere on Chicago's South Side trying to figure out what to do this summer, this list is for you. There are real options. Programs that pay. Programs that teach. Programs that give young people something to do that actually matters for their future. And one of them, TUF Teens, run by Tools Up Foundation right here on the South Side, is doing something no other free summer program in the city is doing:...

May is graduation season. Caps and gowns, proud families, big celebrations — and for a lot of young people in Chicago, a quiet, anxious question that nobody really talks about: now what? If you are holding a diploma and feeling unsure about what comes next, or if you walked away from school without one and you are wondering if there is still a clear path forward, this is for you. Because the answer might not be what you expect. And it definitely does not require taking on $30,000 in debt to...